It is generally recognized that liquid hydrocarbon contamination of water directly though spills, or indirectly through runoff, or groundwater contamination by soil leaching, is a problem of increasing importance.
In the production, transportation and use of oil, liquid hydrocarbon products such as crude oil, fuels, lubricants, and petrochemicals, there are accidental and intentional releases of liquid hydrocarbon products into the environment. These releases may be large spills such as recent crude oil tanker wrecks, oil pipeline breaks, hydrocarbon contaminated "produced" water from drilling, effluent from metal working or finishing plants, bilge water, "sour" water from gas wells, fuel spills, industrial accidents, etc. In all cases the liquid hydrocarbon products eventually contaminate the environment.
A number of processes are now used or advocated for use in removing liquid hydrocarbons from water and/or solid surfaces. Some are mechanical, others chemical.
Mechanical skimer systems are commonly used when removing oils from water in a contained situation. The use of skimer systems on open water spills has met with limited sucess.
Liquid hydrocarbon removal chemicals consist of dispersants, herders, sinking agents, burning promoters, and absorbants. Chemical systems, like mechanical systems, have met with limited success. The following patents describe a few of the chemical systems:
a) U.S. Pat. No. 3,614,873 proposed cleaning up marine oil spills by freezing the surface layer of oil preferably with particles of dry ice.
b) U.S. Pat. No. 3,785,972 describes a method of removing oil from water surface by increasing the liquidification temperature of oil to 50.degree.-80.degree. F. above the temperature of the water. c) U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,447,551 and 3,959,134 describe a method of removing oil slicks by using dispersant agents consisting of mixtures of C.sub.10 -C.sub.20 aliphatic carboxylic acids in sorbitan monoesters in combination with nonpolar solvents such as hexyl alcohol, tridecyl alcohol, decanol, heptadecanol, isoparafinic hydrocarbons known as isopar E,G,H,K,L,M, glycol ethers (Exxon Chemical--methyl Jaysolve, ethyl Jaysolve, butyl Jaysolve or diacyl ethers--Exxon Chemical--like Jaysolve DM, Jaysolve E, Jaysolve DB).
d) U.S. Pat. No. 4,551,239 disclose a process called "oil Herder" and appears to use a 1:1 mixture of butylcellusolve and long chain fatty alcohols, C.sub.12 -C.sub.15.
e) U.S. Pat. No. 3,810,835 describes chemical dispersant agents selected from the class of N,N-dialkyl amide, polyalkylene glycol monoesters of n-alkyl acids and n-alkylene monoesters of ethylene glycol and polyethylene glycol.
f) U.S. Pat. No. 3,869,385 teaches that oil spills on bodies of water are contained by applying polyisocyanate and a polyamine there
g) U.S. Pat. No. 3,960,772 describes an adsorbant agent prepared by foaming polyethylene containing 30-80% by weight of atleast one inorganic calcium compound selected from the group consisting of calcium sulfite and calcium carbonate and shaping the substance to have a network structure.
h) U.S. Pat. No. 4,209,382 describes an effective and regenerable oil adsorbant using pitch-like substances, namely oil adsorbants which are using for an ordinary packed layer in a conventional absorbtion separation column. In addition to the prior art the following prior art patents are related to the suject matter of this application: U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,464,603; 4,502,962; 4,597,893; 4,618,450; 4,764,285; 4,732,690; 4,781,207; 4,830,759; 4,834,908; 4,870,127; 4,811,788; 4,978,459 and 4,978,459.
Each of these processes has one or more objection which would be desirable to eliminate.
The invention provides a new and improved process for removal of oil, liquid hydrocarbon from water/or sea water surface and/or solid surfaces. This process may be used wherever it is desirable to absorb oil, liquid hydrocarbon from sea water surface, or water streams and/or solid surface.
The new and improved process can be used for removal of lacquer, paint, or pigment, or their liquid hydrocarbon components, from water streams/or solid surfaces economically, and without deleterious side effects on the environment. The invention provides product(s) which when dispersed on the surface water will absorb the paint(s), pigment, lacquer and their hydrocarbon component(s), leaving "dead" paint products without any further chemical treatment. These products may float or sink after the liquid hydrocarbons from water and/or solid surfaces, or paint(s), or lacquer been absorbed into their "capilarity, or cavities". The term "dead" paint products is synonymous with the paint being "inactivated" or "killed" and means that the paint is no longer "alive", specifically meaning that the paint is no longer sticky or inert. On the contrary, the paint is in a "lifeless" state.